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The Circus The Media Has Created

The dynamics of the 2016 election are unfolding to be unlike anything we have ever had before. We have 16 GOP candidates all vying for the spotlight, limelight, sound bite of the day and of course the top spot in the polls.

To write this without mentioning Donald Trump would be like talking about the weather and ignoring the tornado behind you. From the day he made his official announcement to the present he has been in the spotlight forâ€¦â€¦. well simply speaking his mind. The Donald, as some like to refer to him have made some statements which have made Americanâ€™s proud and some which have them scratching their head. What Mr. Trump has decided to do with his campaign is speak his mind and tell the voters the way he sees things. He is unconcerned about being politically correct and not afraid to call out an elected official or candidate because of a vote or a position they have taken. Mr.Trump seems unconcerned about how speaking the truth as he sees it might affect him in the polls. Interestingly enough, he stays near the top of the polls and many people who otherwise might not have considered supporting him now seem him as a fresh new voice.

Now letâ€™s talk about the mainstream media and how they have decided to deliver what they call the news to us. Instead of the whole speech, the whole paragraph of the speech or the whole sentence, they deliver us a snippet. The reason for this is two fold, first it can make the candidate look good or bad depending on what they want, second it can be used against another candidate to upset or anger them.

This is how the media works these snippets. Candidate A says â€œWhile Candidate B is for path to citizenship for illegal aliens, he at least understands the need for strong boardersâ€. Now this was an answer about how Candidate Aâ€™s position on immigration differs from Candidate Bâ€™s position, the news media will simply state that Candidate A said Candidate B is for a path to citizenship. While this is an oversimplification you get the idea of how this is used.

But this campaign cycle they have upped the ante. They are more concerned about telling us what the candidates are saying about each other than what the candidates want to the voters to know. Then they run to other candidates and ask them about what they think about what the first two said about each other. This reminds me of when my daughter was in middle school and Emily could not talk to Sally because Betty was mad at Sally, Emily would then say things about Sally to Betty about Sally. However the next day Betty and Sally have made up and now are not talking to Emily because of what she said about Sally.

To make matters worse, social media is having a field day with who said what, and because this candidate said this about another person, he should bow out of the race or is not fit to be president. Instead of this being a race about ideas and policies it has become a race about polls and perceived personal attacks.

What we as voters need to do is listen to what the candidates are saying, look at their record, ignore the polls and support the person who you feel best represents the type of president you are looking for. As for all the rest the social media and mainstream media are trying to do, just enjoy the show.